L'Italo-Americano

THURSDAY, MAY 2, 2019 www.italoamericano.org 16 L'Italo-Americano T here is some sort of gentle strength in the character of the inhabitants of Ripa Teatin a , a s cenic A b ru zzo village s queezed between the Adriatic coastline and the Majella mountains. The Riparoli know that nothing is so strong as gentleness, nothing so gentle as real strength. On August 31, the 4,100 resi- dents will commemorate the 50th anniversary of the death of their hero Rocky Marciano, who tragically died in a private plane crash near Des Moines, Iowa, on August 31, 1969, the day before his 46th birthday. The municipality is also coordi- nating the program for the fif- teenth edition of the Rocky Mar- ciano Sports Festival and Prize to be held from July 1 to 7. A legendary boxing champi- on in the 50s, Marciano had a lionhearted approach to the fight game. A raging bull with a lot of heart, he was the heavyweight champion of the world from 1952 to '56 and remains the only one to ever retire undefeated. Rocky was born Rocco Fran- cis Marchegiano on September 1, 1923, in Brockton, Massachu- setts. He was the oldest son of Quirino Marchegiano, a shoe- maker who fled from his native Ripa Teatina in March 1912. Quirino met Rocky's mother Pasqualina in Brockton. Times were tough during the Great D ep res s ion . Q uirino worked at a shoe factory, strug- gling to make ends meet. He had six hungry children to feed. "Th e Brock ton Block - buster" Marciano spent his life making sure that his parents did- n't again have to live in poverty. He was very close to them and wanted to build a deeper connection with his father's vil- lage. "That's why he visited Ripa Teatina in S eptember 1964," says Gianluca Palladinet- ti, city councilor for Sport and Tourism. "He fell in love with the porchetta prepared by master butcher Antonio Bucci." "The town welcomed him with a nice party," Palladinetti recalls. "People were warm and d e l i g h t e d t o m e e t h i m . A n d when it came time to leave, he was deeply and visibly moved. His only consolation was his promise to the compaesani to return soon, but as we know it w a s n o t p o s s i b l e d u e t o a n inescapable destiny." R o c k y w a s a s t o c k y a n d tough Italian kid who loved to p l a y b a s e b a l l b u t " h a d t o embrace boxing for necessity," says Palladinetti. He was huge in the 50s. "If you want to understand America in the 1950s, you need t o k n o w a b o u t R o c k y M a r - ciano," said ex baseball player Mike Stanton. "He also was the poster boy for American might makes eight in the Cold War we were entered into. In fact, the speaker of the US Congress held him up as a symbol of American superiority and his manager said h e p u n c h e d l i k e t h e a t o m i c bomb." Everybody wanted to meet Rocky, who was also a champi- o n o f g o o d n e s s . " H e w a s a s s t r o n g a n d g e n t l e a s t h e Abruzzesi people. He helped many people including his rivals Carmine Vingo and Joe Louis when they did not fare well," says Palladinetti. The Riparoli cannot erase the memories of the real guy. The Rocky Marciano Festival, a trib- ute to sports culture that has a moral strength and educational value, helps keep those memo- ries very alive. Since 1990 a bronze Rocky Marciano statue s t a n d s f i e r c e i n L a r g o S a n Rocco. "His son Rocky Mar- ciano Jr. comes to visit every year," Palladinetti says proudly. R i p a T e a t i n a i s l o v e l y . Halfway between Francavilla al Mare and the town of Chieti, "until the 1600s it was a fortifi- cation designed for the defense of Chieti in an ever-changing world of invasion," says local historian Graziano Esposito. Traces of its prosperous his- tory can be seen in the beautiful Mother Church, several towers, a 1 6 t h - c e n t u r y F r a n c i s c a n m o n a s t e r y a n d 1 7 t h - c e n t u r y mansions. The Mother Church dedicated to St. Peter is an oasis of peace built in the Baroque period. It houses a miraculous painting of the Madonna del Sudario from t h e 1 7 t h - c e n t u r y N e a p o l i t a n school. "The painting had ended up in the home of a noble fami- l y , t h e B r i g a n t i , " E s p o s i t o explains. "On March 22, 1728, Holy Monday, the Briganti's maid was the first to witness a miracle. "She heard the sound of water dropping on something. At first, she thought it was raining but when she checked outside, she realized the sun was shin- ing." Minutes later, to her great shock, she saw that the depicted Madonna was exuding blood f r o m h e r f o r e h e a d . S h e announced the miracle to the community. Esposito explains there is a c o m m u n i t y o f R i p a r o l i i n Philadelphia. Filmmaker and actor Bradley Cooper's grand- mother Assunta De Francesco was one of those Philadelphians. She left Ripa Teatina as a girl. "My grandmother taught me everything: morality, family attachment, love for food and cooking," said the 21st-century screen idol who has grown more interesting after working against h i s g o l d e n - b o y i m a g e i n h i s d i r e c t o r i a l d e b u t , A S t a r i s Born. Esposito has reconstructed Bradley's Italian family tree s t a r t i n g f r o m 1 7 8 3 , y e a r h i s ancestor Antonio De Francesco was born. "Then I found birth r e c o r d s o f G a e t a n o D e Francesco, Assunta's father." The nonna of Bradley married Angelo Campano from the Ben- evento province. "Their child Gloria, Bradley's mother, mar- ried Charles Cooper." "It is our distinct pleasure to invite Mr. Cooper to visit his grandmother's village," says Palladinetti. "We will give him the key to the city." Fists and caresses of an Italian kid: Ripa Teatina to honor Rocky Marciano on 50th anniversary of death MARIELLA RADAELLI A view of Ripa Teatina, Abruzzo. Rocky Marciano and Bradley Cooper's families come from here © Adamico | Dreamstime.com Rocky Marciano with some Paesani from Ripa Teatina ARCHIVIO PREMIO ROCKY MARCIANO ALL AROUND ITALY TRAVEL TIPS DESTINATIONS ACTIVITIES

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